Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King

Bill Gates and His Quest to Shape Our World

By: Anupreeta Das

Narrated by: Ulka Simone Mohanty

From the finance editor of The New York Times, an insightful and illuminating examination of Bill Gates—one of the most powerful and provocative figures of the past four decades—and an exploration of our national fixation on billionaires.

Few billionaires have been in the public eye for as long, and in as many guises, as Bill Gates. At first hailed as a tech visionary, the Microsoft cofounder morphed into a ruthless capitalist, only to change yet again when he fashioned himself into a global do-gooder. Along the way, Gates influenced how we think about tech founders, as the products they make and the ideas they sell continue to dominate our lives. Through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he also set a new standard for high-profile, billionaire philanthropy. But there is more to Gates’s story, and here, Das’s revelatory reporting shows us that billionaires have secrets and philanthropy can have a dark side.

Drawing upon hundreds of interviews with current and former employees of the Gates Foundation, Microsoft, academics, nonprofits, and those with insight into the Gates universe, Das delves into Gates’s relationships with Warren Buffett, Jeffrey Epstein, Melinda French Gates, and others, to uncover the truths behind the public persona. In telling Gates’s story, Das also provides a new way to think about how billionaires wield their power, manipulate their image, and pursue philanthropy to become heroes, repair damaged reputations, and direct policy to achieve their preferred outcomes.

“A balanced, perceptive, and thought-provoking portrait of a man and his times” (Booklist) Billionaire, Nerd, Savior, King is an important story of money and government, wealth and power, and media and image, and the ways in which the world’s richest people hold us in their thrall.

Critic reviews

"Ulka Simone Mohanty provides a down-to-earth narration of this Bill Gates profile. Her impartial voice is ideal for hearing about the myriad facets of Gates, and her earnest tone personalizes the related figures who weave through the narrative. This audiobook is a study of how Gates has both shaped and punctured popular cultural phenomena, such as wealth inequality, philanthropy, power, and tech mythology. It also punctures myths about the man himself. For example, he didn’t code his way to success in his garage; he jump-started Microsoft by purchasing an operating system from a rival. Overall, this is a multifaceted look at Gates, who at various points has been the most admired man in the world AND a hated vaccine advocate, womanizer, and friend of Jeffrey Epstein."

A few interesting details.

This book must have been written by AI, and the editing stepped must have been skipped. It is disorganized, repetitive, and lacks a clear focus.

Mostly about Billionaires and Philanthropy

It was mostly about Billionaires, Bill Gates, His Ex Wife, their divorce and philanthropy. I was expecting more on his younger life and growing up and starting the company.

It’s well researched but uninspired.

This is essentially a compilation of everything on the public record about Gates. Which is interesting. But, as a story, it is a pretty dry piece of bread to get down. It’s not so much a biography—which I was expecting—as a recitation of facts. Hard to know what to think about Gates when it ends.

Just awful

I didn’t like anything about this Audible. Way too much info on why the author doesn’t like billionaires as a class, way too little on Bill Gates.

Nauseating, literally.

Nauseating bit@&!/$ about privilege, race, gender, all the typical BS you’d expect nowadays. Irrational and emotional.